The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 924: Chapter 28: Historian Hastings_2

And from the perspective of maintaining Britain’s naval superiority, prohibiting the slave trade and fully emancipating slaves also means that the number of British slave ships will surely be greatly reduced. However, if we cannot force other countries to abolish slavery together, then in times of war, they can recruit these armed slave ships into military service. Therefore, both emotionally and rationally, the Royal Navy should be more determined to strike against these slave traders, and the Cabinet should also urge other countries to join us in abolishing slavery.”

Elliot’s words made Arthur involuntarily pinch his chin.

Regarding the abolition of slavery, Arthur had considered it from a humanitarian perspective and an economic perspective before, but he had never really considered it from a military perspective.

But on second thought, what Elliot said actually made a lot of sense; after all, the navies of European countries had hired slave ships and pirate ships to fight in wartime more than once or twice. Although these small armed vessels couldn’t play a major role in decisive sea battles like large fleets, they were more than adequate to harass the lifeline of Britain—the commercial routes.

From this standpoint, it’s no wonder that the Cabinet frequently sends notes to Brazil, Spain, France, and Austria, demanding that they, in the spirit of God’s compassion, join Britain in the great cause of abolishing slavery.

Arthur took a sip of tea, suddenly changing the subject: ”I heard the Count say earlier that after you return to the country for debriefing this time, you will be heading to China with Lord Napier? As a trade commissioner’s secretary?”

Hearing this, Elliot nodded slightly, saying, ”I previously served for a time as a business representative under the Governor in Guyana, so I am quite familiar with this area.”

Arthur received confirmation from Elliot, but for a moment he didn’t know how to proceed with the conversation.

Should he ask about the opium trade?

Or ask about the opening of the five ports?

As for the opium trade, it’s flourishing in Britain itself.

And in Britain, the only group strongly opposing the opium trade is the Church faction, and the political party that supports the Church faction is called the ’Tory Party.’

Judging by Elliot’s stance against slavery, he likely doesn’t have a good impression of the opium trade either, but Arthur, as a graduate of London University, suddenly bringing up the Tory Party and Church’s stance in front of three Whig Party members seemed quite inappropriate.

While Arthur was thinking about how to talk to Elliot about China, he suddenly heard Elliot shift the topic to Lord Dalhousie.

”Your Excellency, I remember you visited Russia for the Belgium issue last year at the behest of Viscount Palmerston? What impression did you get of the Emperor in St. Petersburg? Is he really as bad as the rumors claim?”

Lord Dalhousie heard this and frowned while sipping tea: ”Are you talking about Tsar Nicholas I? I... I actually think he is quite nice, very polite, and kind, so my visit went very smoothly. After he received assurances that Britain would not provide aid to either the Netherlands or Belgium in any active form, he gladly agreed that Russia would not intervene in the domestic affairs of the Low Countries.”

Bonning asked, ”Are you sure the Tsar’s promise not to interfere with Belgium’s independence is because of his gentle nature and not because he’s overwhelmed by the Polish issue?”

”Poland?” The Earl of Dalhousie pursed his lips: ”I’m sure it’s not because of Poland, because he has an even more pressing matter to resolve right now.”

”What matter?”

The Earl of Dalhousie found the matter amusing when he thought of it; he laughed and said, ”You probably won’t believe it, but right now he’s fighting a ’potato war’ with revolting peasants.”

”Is Russia experiencing a famine?”

”No, quite the opposite, the potato war is to resolve famine.”

Arthur curiously asked, ”What do you mean by this?”

The Earl of Dalhousie, seeing everyone’s interest, patiently recounted his observations in Russia: ”You should know that Russia has many cold and frozen areas, and potatoes are a crop that is not only highly adaptable but also quite high-yield. For this reason, ever since Peter the Great’s time, Russia has been hoping to promote potato planting domestically.

But this good idea never managed to take root. Not only that, but Peter was even accused of intending to poison Russians to make room for Germans. During Catherine II’s time, she also tried this strategy again, but met with collective resistance from Russian peasants, and thus the initiative came to nothing.

In recent years, due to the impact of cholera, a food shortage emerged in Russia, so Tsar Nicholas I sought to promote potatoes using the old method. Moreover, his resolve this time was even greater than that of Peter I and Catherine II. Regardless of what the peasants said, whether they were willing to plant or not, if seeds were distributed, they had to be planted.

But when this policy reached the local level, the peasants completely ignored his words. Tsar Nicholas I, in a fury, planned to arrest several influential defiant peasants as a warning to others. However, when the local peasants learned about this, instead of surrendering these individuals to the authorities, they beat the officials sent by the authorities instead.

Tsar Nicholas I deployed more military and police forces to suppress the uprising, but as soon as the news spread, violent defiance quickly escalated into large-scale revolts. Although the scale of these riots wasn’t large, as soon as one area was pacified, another area with forced potato cultivation revolted. This was unbelievable; the Decemberists’ uprising, which occurred when Nicholas I ascended the throne, didn’t create as much commotion as the potato conflict!